October 15, 2012

Newly Discovered Super-Advanced Biocarbon Device: Anchovy Poop! A new study has found that excrement from small forage fish like anchovies is a fairly effective natural biocarbon storage pump. Such fish feed on photosynthetic phytoplankton which intake carbon dioxide near the ocean’s surface. They then digest and discharge fecal pellets which are heavy enough to sink relatively quickly to the ocean floor where the carbon is stored long term. The study involved researchers including Grace Saba from Rutgers University and others from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and was conducted off the coast of southern California.